1. The Committee on Social Affairs,
Health and Sustainable Development welcomes the excellent and timely
report prepared by Ms Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir (Iceland, UEL)
for the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons.
It fully supports the report’s recommendation that the Council of
Europe member States need a common strategy on how to combat violence
against migrant children in all its forms and to ensure the broad
and comprehensive protection of their rights.

2. As pointed out in the report, migrant children are among the
most vulnerable groups in our societies. We must not accept as inevitable
the violence and exploitation that many of them endure. All Council
of Europe member States made a commitment to protect children’s
rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) and they must honour their obligations. The 30th Anniversary
of the CRC in 2019 provides a good opportunity to draw attention
to the situation of migrant children and to promote stronger action,
thus contributing to the Target 16.2 of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms
of violence and torture against children.

3. The Social Affairs Committee wishes to propose a few specific
amendments to reinforce the text.